Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Mascot Week: Hubert the Lion

Mascot Week continues. Today, I am featuring Hubert the Lion, one of the first mascots I ever remember (he must be pretty old).

The Harris Trust and Savings Bank started using a lion as their mascot in 1911. There were some predecessors to Hubert. In 1957, Hubert was created for an ad campaign starting in 1958. Name changes were considered, but a memo from "Hubert" on Leo Burnett letterhead ended those discussions. The memo read, “Hubert is just right for my new role. Aristocratic but not snobbish. Unusual but not bizarre. Faintly amusing but not snicker-making. Dignified but not stuffy. So why can’t I be Hubert, like I was christened … Shucks fellers. Why not just let me be? Hubert that is.”

Hubert went on to star in commercials, make appearances and proudly represent Harris Bank. He was also immortalized in plush doll form. I remember having a Hubert doll in our house, but I don;t remember whose it was.

I ran into Hubert last year at an IceHogs game, when I was looking for Hammy Hog. I looked for a hog and found the King of The jungle.